Lemon-squeezer



No. 749,573. Patented January 12, 1904.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DOSIER MOSTELLER, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOCLAY PETERS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

LEMON-SQUEEER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 749,573, dated. January12, 1904.

Application filed August 17, 1903.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, DOSIER H. MosTELLER, a citizen of the United States,residing at San Francisco, in the county of San Francisco and State ofCalifornia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inLemon-Squeezers, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved lemon' squeezer, the object of myinvention being to provide an apparatus of this character which willfirst cut and then sqeeze a lemon or lime easily and rapidly and withoutthe exercise of care or dexterity on the part of the operator.

A further object of my invention is to provide an article of thischaracter which can be used profitably for the purpose of displayingvarious advertisements, this article being es pecially intended forplaces where drinks containing lemon or lime juice are prepared and soldas ordered.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of theapparatus. Fig. 2 is a broken horizontalsection thereof. Fig. 3 is a topplan View thereof. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the tray upon whichthe lemon is deposited. Fig. 5 is a rear view of the apparatus. Fig. 6is a side view of the apparatus, the casing being broken away. Fig. 7 isa front view of the apparatus, the casing being removed. Fig. 8 is avertical section of the apparatus on the line A A of Fig. 5.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents a casting which forms the mainportion of my the wall 8.

Serial No. 169,727. (No model.)

and said top 10 is slit, as shown at 12, to receive the upper end of aknife 13, the lower end of which is slotted, as shown at 14, to takeover a stud or extension 15 from a lug 16, extending forwardly from thelower portion of After said slotted end has been so placed over saidstud 15 and the upper end shaft 19 at its ends, but approaches closethereto at the middle, as shown, so that the end portions are higherthan the middle. This has the effect of directing the lemon or limewhich is thrown onto the tray into a central position opposite to theknife 13. Said tray has at one end a forwardly-extending arm 22, whichextends underneath the lower edge of the presserplate 23 and before thecommencement of the operation is held down thereby, so that the trayslopes upward from said presser-plate, so as to direct the lemon or limeagainst the face of the presser-plate as well as centrally in front ofthe knife 13. Said presser-plate 23 is attached, as shown at 24, to apitman 25, pivoted at 26 to a crank-arm 27, the shaft apparatus. Saidcasting has at its lower end of which has abearing 28 in a boss orprojeca forwardly-extending lug 2, having a screwtion 29 of the maincasting and the outer end threaded bearing 3 for a screw 4, which carofwhich carries a crank-handle 30. Said 5 rice at its upper end a disk 5to rest against the under side of the counter, table, or other supportupon which the article is secured and at its lower end carries ahand-wheel 6 for screwing said disk up against said support. The castinghas also at its side forwardlyextending ears 7, which rest upon theupper surface of the other support. By this means the device is firmlysecured in place. The rear wall 8 of the casting has at the top aforwardlyprojecting flange 9, which is continued at one side to form apartial top 10, integrally supported by a side extension 11 fromsaidwall,

presser-plate has a wide top, which extends underneath the flange 9,formed upon the casting, and in addition to said top is secured by thescrews 31 a guide-piece 32, which has a downwardly-extending tongue 33,which extends into a groove 34, formed in said flange 9 in a thedirection of motion of the presser plate. It will readily be seen thatwith this construction when the crank-handle is turned the presser-plateis moved toward the knife, its motion in that direction being accuratelyguided by said tongue and groove. In so moving the presser-plate willrelease the arm 22 of the inclined tray, so that said tray drops towardthe knife. At the same time the presser-plate pushes the lemon or limetoward,

Wall 36, which has a flange 37 at the top and also one 38 at the front,so as to entirely inclose the fruit except at the bottom, and thus toprevent the juice from squirting out when the lemon is being compressed.The face of this wall 36 is preferably lined with wood, and in thecenter opposite to the knife is secured a prism-shaped piece of rubber39, having one edge in the center and the opposite face secured to thewall. The object of this piece of rubber is to squeeze the cut edge ofthe lemon or lime thoroughly, so as to extract the juice fullytherefrom. A further object is by its resiliency to throw the squeezedhalves of the lemon back after the juice has been extracted, so as toprevent them from sticking to the face of the wall. The juice soextracted falls upon an inclined plate 40, having a series of horizontalslots 41 therein, through which the juice passes and falls onto the faceof a chute 42, supported in an opening of the rear wall 8 of thecasting, and also having a curved upper edge 43, which hangs over a wireyoke 44, having its ends secured to the casting. By this means the pipsor seeds of the fruit are separated from the juice, which runs into atrough 45, formed in the lower edge of said chute 42, which trough againdischarges the juice into the tumbler 46,held in a wire support 47,secured upon the lower lug of the casting. Upon a return movement of thecrank-handle when the presser-plate is withdrawn the squeezed halves ofthe lemonfall upon the slotted plate 40 and roll down the same and aredischarged into any suitable receptacle. Said slotted plate has where itextends to the rear of the hopper a raised wall 48 on the side to whichthe juice is discharged to prevent the lemon falling into the tumbler.It will thus be seen that in the operation of this device nothing moreis necessary than to drop the lemon or lime into the receptacle and thenturn the handle. In order to adjust the apparatus for limes or lemons orfor different sizes of lemons, there is provided a wedge-shaped block49, which extends between the back of the wall 36 and the side extension11 of the casting and is moved in and out by means of a stem 50 and knob51. When the wedge-shaped block is moved rearward, it forces the wallfarther from the extension and reduces the distance through which thepresser-plate has to travel to squeeze the fruit, and is thereforesuitable for limes or small lemons. When it is moved forward, it permitsthe wall to approach nearer to said extension, and thus enlarges thedistance and is suitable for lemons.

The wall is movably held in place by means of an inwardly-extendingflange 52 therefrom being held behind a plate 53, secured by screws 54to the casting.

To limit the movement of the crank-handle 30, there is provided a rubberdisk 55, secured upon the rear wall of the casting in the path of saidhandle.

In use the'above apparatus is inclosed on three sides and at the top bya casing 56, which is formed at the top with a suitable hole 57 throughwhich to drop the lime or lemon in the proper place to be cut andsqueezed, and I utilize this casing as an advertising medium by dividingit into spaces 58, on which various advertising-cards may be secured,the whole being covered by a sheet 59 of transparent celluloid and thencovered by a frame 60, having strips 61.

In order to prevent the crank-arm 27 going too far beyond thedead-center when squeezing the lemon, there is provided a stop-pin 62,arresting said crank-arm. When so arrested, the crank-arm andpresser-plate remain stationary for a sufficient time for the juice torun out from the lemon compressed by the presser-plate.

I claim 1. An article of the character described comprising a knife, asuitable support upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided withmeans for centering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate forpushing the fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind saidknife between which and the presser-plate the fruitis squeezed, asuitable discharging device for receiving the fruit and juice anddischarging them, and means for separating the fruit from the juice,substantially as described.

2. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be de posited,a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to thepresser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presserplate togetherto cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall andpresserplate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means forreceiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall andpresser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially asdescribed.

3. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, apresser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to thepresser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presserplate togetherto cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall andpresserplate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, means forshifting the support to permit the fruit to be pressed against saidwall, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the space betweensaid Wall and presser plate and separating the juice from the pulp,substantially as described.

4. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited,said support being provided with means for centering the fruit oppositeto the knife, a presser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knifeto the presser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-platetogether to cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said walland presser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, and meansfor receiving the fruit and juice from the space between said wall andpresser-plate and separating the juice from the pulp, substantially asdescribed.

5. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, apresser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, a wall on theopposite side ofthe knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing saidknife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and alsofor bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruittherebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the spacebetween said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from thepulp, substantially as described.

6. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, apresser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, a wall on theopposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means for bringing saidknife and presser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and alsofor bringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruittherebetween, means for shifting the support to permit the fruit to bepresseragainst said wall, and means for receiving the fruit and juicefrom the space between said wall and presser-plate and separating thejuice from the pulp, substantially as described.

7. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited,said support being provided with means for centering the fruit oppositeto the knife, a presser-plate having a slit for the knife to enter, awall on the opposite side of the knife to the presser-plate, means forbringing said knife and presser-plate together to cut the fruittherebetween and also for bringing said wall and presser-plate togetherto squeeze the fruit therebetween, and means for receiving the fruit andseparating the juice from the pulp, substantially as described.

8. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,asupport in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, apresser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to thepresser-plate, the face of said wall having thereon a piece of rubbersubstantially parallel with the knife, means for bringing said knife andpresser-plate together to cut the fruit therebetween and also forbringing said wall and presser-plate together to squeeze the fruittherebetween, and means for receiving the fruit and juice from the spacebetween said wall and presser-plate and separating the juice from thepulp, substantially as described.

9. In an article of the character described, the combination of a knife,a support in front of the knife upon which the fruit can be deposited, apresser-plate, a wall on the opposite side of the knife to thepresser-plate, means for bringing said knife and presser-plate togetherto cut the fruit therebetween and also for bringing said wall andpresser-plate together to squeeze the fruit therebetween, a chute forreceiving the juice and a slotted inclined plate over said chute forreceiving the pulp and seeds, substantially as described.

10. An article of the character described comprising aknife, a suitablesupport upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided with means forcentering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate for pushingthe fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind said knifebetween which and the presser-plate the fruit is squeezed, means foradjusting the position of said wall relative to said presserplate forvarious sizes of fruits, a suitable discharging device for receiving thefruit and juice and discharging them, and means for separating the fruitfrom the juice, substantially as described.

11. An article of the character described comprising a knife, a suitablesupport upon which the fruit is dropped, and provided with means forcentering the fruit in front of the knife, a presser-plate for pushingthe fruit against the knife to cut the same, a wall behind said knifebetween which and the presserplate the fruit is squeezed, a suitabledischarging device for receiving the fruit and juice and dischargingthem, means for separating the fruit from the juice, and a suitablecasing having a hole through the top through which to drop the fruitprovided with means for'displaying advertising matter, substantially asdescribed.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses.

DOSIER H. MOSTELLER. Witnesses:

FRANCIS M. WRIGHT, BESSIE GORFINKEL.

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